Increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile devices, together with increasing use of mobile internet applications have led to an exponential growth of data rate demands on cellular systems generally employing licensed radio spectrum (“licensed spectrum”) resources. At the same time, limited spectrum resources are available to allow mobile network operators (MNOs) to meet current and future data rate demands.
The MNOs are further faced with the challenge of poor indoor coverage, particularly at an edge of a telecommunication system cell. Poor indoor coverage may be a significant challenge for MNOs, as most data traffic and voice calls originate from indoors.
To address the challenges of meeting ever-increasing data rate demands and poor indoor coverage, some proposed solutions include an increased reliance on femtocells. Generally, femtocells are small-range, low-power cells that may be deployed to enhance indoor coverage and offload some traffic from a macrocell. Offloading traffic to the femtocell may reduce congestion in the macrocell network and thus may help improve the experience for users connected to the telecommunication system via the macrocell. Like femtocells, other small cells such as picocells may also be used to reduce macrocell congestion and/or improve indoor coverage.
Concurrently, public IEEE 802.11 wireless hotspots have grown in number to provide internet access to customers over ever-increasing areas. Generally, IEEE 802.11 wireless hotspots provide wireless internet access via unlicensed radio spectrum (“unlicensed spectrum”) resources.
Most modern user equipments (UE) are outfitted to communicate via both cellular technology and IEEE 802.11 technology. Furthermore, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project's (3GPP) standards provide an architecture that allows UE seamless interoperability over cellular systems and IEEE 802.11 wireless hotspots without user interaction.
The 3GPP has presented a few approaches to offload licensed spectrum traffic to an unlicensed spectrum in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. A Local Internet Protocol (IP) Access (LIPA) approach allows a UE to access a local residential or corporate network through a 3GPP device—such as a femtocell—without employing the MNO's core network. A Selected IP Traffic Offload (SIPTO) approach allows UE traffic to flow from the 3GPP device directly to the internet via a local packet gateway (L-PGW), thus bypassing the MNO's core network. Both the LIPA and SIPTO approaches are transparent to UE and intend to avoid congestion in the MNO's core network. Furthermore, in the LIPA and SIPTO approaches, traffic at the UE occurs over the licensed spectrum via the UE's 3GPP radio. An IP Flow Mobility (IFOM) approach leverages the UE to determine whether to use a 3GPP device via the licensed spectrum, e.g. LTE, or an IEEE 802.11 access point (AP) via the unlicensed spectrum. Unlike the LIPA and SIPTO approaches, the IFOM is radio access network (RAN) transparent, and not UE transparent.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.